ESSEX, Md. (WJZ) — An unusual rescue operation in Essex Tuesday night to free two workers stuck in the mud.

Kai Jackson explains conditions were so bad, the only way to get to them was by air.

Those two people had been stranded in their amphibious vehicle for more than eight hours.

Daylight was fading Tuesday evening over Back River in Essex and time was running out for two people stranded in the mud since 9 a.m. A member of the Baltimore County fire tactical team swooped in to carry one of them to safety.

“County air helicopter just rescued one person from a vehicle that’s stuck in the mud here. The water’s really low and as you can see, it’s really muddy down there,” Captain Jeff Long said during the rescue.

Long and Sky Eye Chopper 13 followed every step of the operation as the police helicopter went back for the second victim. But that time, it was too dark for an air-lift.

A good Samaritan in another all-terrain vehicle moved in to help, but that vehicle nearly got stuck, too. Finally, one rescuer jumped into the quicksand-like mud and they finally all reached shore.

Both rescue victims were unharmed when they got to shore. Sources say the two people rescued had been authorized to be out on the water, collecting water samples.